Fall is slowly finding its way to South Florida. October is a month of contrasts – one of the most active months for tropical weather, witnessed last week by the havoc wreaked by Hurricane Milton, it also ushers in welcome cooler temperatures. Sometime around October 15 usually brings the first cold front of the season and it was right on time. Temperatures in the 70s (F) have been experienced for the first time in months. Ahh.

Hurricane Milton passed about 100 miles north of my garden. The havoc wreaked here was by a series of tornadoes spawned by the outer bands of the storm the day before landfall. My area was peppered with these storms packing winds in the 150 mph range. A great deal of destruction ensued and lives and many properties were lost. The hurricane was a snooze compared to the tornadoes. We are unscathed and grateful.

I plucked some cooler colors, fall tones and pseudo fall leaf color for my vase this Monday:

The off white flowers are ‘Miss Alice’ Bougainvillea’, she is leaning a bit towards green having fallen off her trellis in the storm. Blue flowers are Blue Plumbago (Plumbago auriculata) the tropical rains seem to have inspired a new flush of flowers for October. The gold glass container is an olive oil cruet.

Faux fall color is provided by peachy Choconiana Heliconia (H. psittacorum) and the leaf of a Piecrust Croton (Codieum varigatum).

I guess I can pretend I am raking up fall leaves instead of hurricane debris since its October!

Visit our hostess, Cathy, at RamblingintheGarden and follow the links in the comments section to see more vases.